The Call to Apologetics

What is an apology?

 Most of us think of saying sorry or showing remorse for regretful behavior. An apology is also a defense or a justification for something. Christian apologetics defends the biblical worldview and beliefs core to Christianity. The English word “apology” comes from a Greek word which basically means “to give a defense.” Christian apologetics, then, is the science of giving a defense of the Christian faith. 

Note: There are many false teachers who promote false doctrine and deny the key truths of the Christian faith. The mission of Christian apologetics is to combat these movements and instead promote the Christian God and Christian truth.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)…………

This is what defending the Bible is all about. We need to “demolish arguments” like evil and suffering, the hiddenness, supposed contradictions people think they have found in Scripture, or simply the claim “There is no evidence for God’s existence.” These are arguments that set “itself up against the knowledge of God” that we need to “demolish.” If we do, then we might be able to “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ”.

Apologetics is a call for every believer…….

As Scripture tells us, making an apology for the gospel should be part of the Christian life. We who are in Christ do not possess the worldview of our present culture. As a result, we face opposition from the kingdom of darkness that seeks to distort the truth of God's kingdom and lead people to destruction.

To engage in the redemptive work of Christ, which is restoring the world to right worship through the gospel, we must incorporate apologetics as an evangelistic tool and integrate "the reason for our hope" in our day to day living. Defending the Christian faith in our cancel culture and pluralistic culture can be intimidating. Fortunately, we can use the wisdom of apologists before us, a biblical framework, and the example of Jesus Himself to give us insight on how to defend our faith to the glory of God.

Note: The work of apologetics rests on a biblical command, (1st Peter 3:14-16). We find a mandate in scripture to defend the faith, a mandate that every Christian must take seriously.

Know that you have the truth and remain confident in the Lord……..

The person with the opposing worldview might appear craftier in his or her speech and seemingly more knowledgeable, you can still have courage because you hold the truth. You may not have an answer to every question thrown at you. You might talk more slowly or stutter. By God's grace, you have been revealed the glory of Jesus. God has chosen you, softened your heart to repent of sin, and given you the faith to trust in the saving work of Christ. This truth should not make you arrogant but bold. Through your weaker speech and by the Holy Spirit, you can declare the strength and power of God. If you don't know an answer to a question, you can humbly admit your limited knowledge and ask to resume when you have studied that area.

One facet of apologetics is giving an intellectual defense of the truth claims of Christianity. Before this, we must think about the questions, “How do we know what we know” or “How do we know what is false.” One can have a knowledge of the propositions of Christianity and still not know Jesus. We can know about Jesus and not have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Faith is not a blind leap………..

In today’s culture, we have been infected with fideism, which centers around this statement, “I don’t need to have a reason for what I believe, I just take a blind leap of faith.” The Bible never tells us to take a leap of faith into the darkness and hope for the best. The Bible calls us to jump out of the darkness and into the light; this is not a blind leap. The faith that the New Testament calls us to is a faith rooted and grounded in something that God makes clear is the truth.

Acts 17:30-31- The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

We see here in this scripture above the difference between Paul making a case for the truth and merely asking people to believe without any reason. The task of apologetics is to show that the evidence that the New Testament calls people to commit their lives to is compelling evidence and worthy of our full commitment. This involves a lot of work for the apologist.

It is easy to get distracted in apologetics discussions. When passions are rising, you may find yourself talking about a topic that is not pertinent to your opposer's salvation. Then, suddenly, the conversation comes to an end, and the opportunity is missed. Stay focused on the gospel from the beginning of the discussion to the very end.